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Open Space Review Board

For a legal description of the Open Space Review Board please visit eCode360.

A community survey conducted for the current New Garden Township Comprehensive Plan revealed that, along with curbing rapid residential development, open space preservation was the most important planning issue in the township.

New Garden Township's Open Space Review Board, comprised of volunteers, functions to assist landowners with planning to preserve remaining open space for present and future generations to enjoy. To accomplish this, the board members meet with property owners to discuss preservation options, to develop proposals to accomplish the easements necessary to protect the property from eventual development and to recommend satisfactory proposals to the Board of Supervisors for review toward approval. Funding for this activity is generated by a special tax levy of .00125 on earned income, approved by the citizens of the township in 2005.

Board members welcome conversations with interested landowners to explore conservation possibilities and use the services of Natural Lands Trust to facilitate such conservations. Natural Lands Trust is an organization with much experience and success in protecting open space in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey since 1953. For more information about Natural lands Trust, click here to visit their website.

Before exploring development of a property, please consider talking with a member of the OSRB (see above) to determine conservation options. Funds are presently available for purchase of conservation easements and, in some situations, may offer comparable value to landowners to outright sale of the property with no easement.

An additional task for the board is solicitation of trail easements from property owners to develop the potential trial network described in the New Garden Township Greenways Plan, adopted in 2009. The board works with the Friends of the New Garden Trails, a volunteer organization of trail aficionados who maintain the trails, provide special programs related to the trails, and provide much of the work required when new trails are established.